That New Car Smell
by Codiak
Summary: It was quiet for a few minutes and then, "Mom?" / "Yes, sweetie?" / "I don't like the car." / "Too bad."


Danny stared at the car with narrowed eyes. The car, _this_ car, was the reason why his family wasn't going on a vacation in the Caribbean. His eye twitched. As a teenage superhero, he had really been looking forward to that vacation.

"I don't like it," Danny stated. Maddie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Why?" she wondered.

"I don't like it," Danny repeated.

"Can you give me a reason?"

"…"

"What's so bad about the SUV?"

"Sam would say that it's an environmental hazard."

"It's a normal car. I know you've been complaining about having the GAV as our only vehicle."

"Jazz has a car."

"Which she won't let anyone but herself use."

"We have a car."

"You don't like our usual car."

"Well, I don't like this one."

Maddie sighed at her son's antics and ran a hand through her short red hair. Then she decided to take it down to his maturity level. "What did the car do to you?"

"It took away my vacation in the Caribbean."

"So _that's_ why you don't like the car."

"Yes, that's why I don't like the car."

"Well, besides that fact, do you like the car?"

"No," Danny chirped. He gazed at his mother and waited for her response.

"What now?"

"It's an environmental hazard like Sam would say."

It was Maddie's turn for an eye twitch. "Well, I like the car and we're keeping it."

"Why?"

"Because I like the car."

"But why?"

"Because I do and I know it's ticking you off. Get in."

Danny pouted at her and climbed into the front seat, buckling himself in. Maddie rounded to the driver's seat and did the same. She started the engine. "Are you ready for your first ride in the new car?" she inquired brightly.

"Nope," Danny answered.

Maddie pulled away from the curb of their house and started down the street. "It drives smoothly."

"That's because Dad isn't driving."

"It has a working radio…"

"I have an iPod."

It was quiet for a few minutes and then, "Mom?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"I don't like the car."

"Too bad."

Danny crossed his arms and then decided to begin playing with the radio. He grinned and switched stations every three seconds, even when a song he liked came on. After the fourth time of going through the same stations, Maddie smacked his hand away and shut the radio completely off.

"Why?" Danny questioned.

"Because you're just messing around."

"I am not."

"Danny…"

"Okay, I am."

Danny chewed on his lip and tried to think of something else- Bingo! He pressed a finger against the automatic button for his window. The window rolled all the way down and then he decided to put it all the way up again. Then it went down a little and up a little, and down a little and up a little. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down- Why wasn't it going down?

Danny jabbed the button a few more times. Did he break it? His mom was going to be mad if he did- "I put the child lock on," Maddie announced. Danny slowly turned his head toward her.

"I'm _seventeen_," he countered.

"And you're acting like a child."

"I am not," he grumbled and crossed his arms firmly. What would he have to do to convince his mom to ditch the car and go to the Caribbean? "You know, I would love to go swimming in a nice blue ocean right now."

"Well, the beach isn't too far from here." Danny simply stretched his legs out onto the dashboard and put his hands behind his head. "Get your feet off my dash."

"Why?"

"Because this is my car, I am your mother, and I am not turning in the car so you can go frolic in another country's public water system."

Danny blinked. "I don't frolic. I do skip on certain occasions, but I do not frolic."

"Get your feet off my dash." Danny removed his feet from the dashboard and huffed loudly. Then he huffed again. And again. "What are you going on about?"

"It smells in here."

Maddie silently counted to ten in her head and then looked over at Danny. "It's a new car."

"Well, it smells funny."

"Because it's a new car."

"Well, they should change the smell."

"And what exactly would they change the new car smell to?"

"The Caribbean air."

"Well, they don't have that kind of power, dear, so this is what you get."

"They should create a new car smell creator. If they can make all this other crap, like a Ghost Portal for instance, then they can certainly create something that'll make your new car smell like bacon."

"Bacon?"

"For Tucker. Trees for Sam. And the Caribbean air for me when my mother goes out and buys a new car without my permission, thus ruining my chances of having a vacation in the Caribbean."

"Would it make you feel better if I said that you can fly there?"

Danny froze in his seat and his eyes got huge. "Huh?" he finally dared to say.

"Go ahead. Fly. Come back in a week."

"And how am I flying exactly? I don't have a plane ticket."

"And I'm not as ignorant as you think."

"Oh, this is awkward. And I don't know what's going on."

"I think you do."

"Enlighten me?"

"I'll call Sam and tell her that you are staying there as a cover for your father. As long as you call every once and a while, I don't see the issue."

Danny's eyes were almost bugging out of his head. Did she really know? "Mom, what do you know exactly?"

"That's for you to decide," Maddie quipped. "If you feel like talking about it so you can go to the Caribbean, then I'm all ears. If you're unsure, then sit back in the car, shut up, and enjoy the ride back to the house."

Danny leaned back in his seat. "So… Do you like the new car smell?" he inquired casually.

Maddie chuckled. _One of these days_, she thought to herself, _you'll let me in on your not so little secret and I'll tell you how proud I am…Phantom._


End file.
